CAIRO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Egyptian police have arrested three members of a gang of youngsters suspected of raping and killing at least three and possibly up to 18 street children in Cairo and northern Egypt, police sources said on Thursday.

Police have found three bodies, one in the Nile Delta town of Tanta and one in Shubra el-Kheima on the northern outskirts of Cairo, they said.

The suspects have told police they disposed of the bodies by throwing them off moving trains, stuffing them down drains or throwing them into the River Nile.

An 18-year-old suspect was quoted in the independent newspaper Al Masry Al Yom as saying the gang's leader started the killings in revenge for an attack of which he was the victim when he was less than 10 years old.

Egypt has tens of thousands of street children living on the margins of society but reports are rare of them committing serious crimes of violence.

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